Germany's Tommy Haas is to meet Roger Federer in the semi-finals, confident after pushing him to five sets at this year's French Open. Photograph: Michael Mayhew/Sportsphoto

If Tommy Haas were a horse, he would have been shot long ago. It is hard to think of any other sportsman in recent times who has been through more ups and downs than the German, whose list of injuries and sheer bad luck defies belief. In his 14 years on tour, he has endured enough problems to keep a hospital in business, including two sets of shoulder surgery, hip, back, ankle, foot, elbow and stomach injuries, a virus and a nasty motorcycle accident involving his parents.

Haas missed Wimbledon in 2002 and 2003 because of his shoulder problems, trod on a ball in the warm-up and retired in his first-round match in 2005, and had to pull out before his fourth-round match in 2007 after tearing a stomach muscle. Despite everything, or perhaps because of it, Haas is a big believer in fate and, at 31, he finds himself in the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time, an enormous testament to his resilience. He has taken everything life has thrown at him, but it is typical of his luck that the man across the net is Roger Federer, the five-times champion and a man he has beaten just twice in 11 meetings, and not since 2002.

Federer has won the past seven matches between the two and it would be wholly understandable if Haas should feel happy to have come this far. Hhaving been five points away from beating Federer in the fourth round of the French Open a month ago, Haas is determined not to pass up the opportunity to join Boris Becker and Michael Stich as the only German men to reach the men's final in the Open era.

"I always felt like deep down Wimbledon will maybe still have something left for me," Haas said. "This is obviously the best I've played here. Unfortunately my next opponent is a really tough hurdle to go by, but I feel like I'm playing some great tennis. I will just go out there and compete hard and see what happens."

Their last meeting should give Haas hope that he can at least threaten Federer. At two sets to love, 4-3 and break point, the German could see the finishing line, only for the Swiss to rip victory away from him with one big forehand. Federer went on to win the title, leaving Haas to admire: "You've just got to tip your hat and say, 'That's why he's Roger Federer'."

The German beat Novak Djokovic, the world No4, to win the title in Halle, Germany, almost three weeks ago and then repeated the feat in the quarter-finals here. As one of the few remaining players to serve and volley, he has the game to rush Federer, but the Swiss has cruised through the draw to reach his 21st consecutive grand slam semi-final, an achievement he is justly proud of. Just two wins away from a record 15th grand slam title, it will take a monumental effort to stop him.

"We all know it – it would be writing in the history books of tennis," Federer said. "But it's not there yet, it's still far away. Against Tommy I have to play a good match from the start. As we saw in Paris, it was brutal. But I'm happy to be back into another semi-final, 21st in a row, it's amazing and means the world to me."